Subtitle:

Acta Poloniae Historica. T. 113 (2016) ; Studies

Contributor:

Gilley, Christopher : Red. ; Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Publisher:

Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Description:

s. 295-313

Type of object:

Czasopismo/Artykuł

Abstract:

On 8 September 1968, Ryszard Siwiec set fi re to himself during a harvest festival in the 10th Anniversary Stadium in Warsaw. Through his self-immolation, he sought to protest against Communist rule in general and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in particular. However, his death did not gain wider attention. Further protests ‘by fi re’ took place in the subsequent months and years in East Central Europe. Among them was the self-immolation by the Czech student Jan Palach in Prague. In contrast to Siwiec, this young man was immediately recognized as a martyr in Czechoslovakia as well as on the other side of the Iron Curtain. It was only after 1989 that Ryszard Siwiec’s story became increasingly well-known. Today, his act still remains in the shadow of Palach’s, however. This article deals with the marginal position of Siwiec in the Polish national pantheon. By reflecting on the various constraints on creating martyrs in state and post-socialism, it focuses on one particular aspect of Polish and Czech – or rather Polish-Czech – memory politics. As for the ‘Polish Palach’ Ryszard Siwiec, the paper demonstrates that Czechs have played a crucial role in popularizing him.

References:

Blažek Petr et al. (eds.), Palach ‘69 (Praha, 2009).
Blažek Petr, Ryszard Siwiec 1909–1968 (Praha, 2010).
Brenner Christiane, ‘Tod für einen Sozialismus mit “menschlichem Gesicht”. Jan Palach’, in Rainer Gries et al. (eds.), Sozialistische Helden. Eine Kulturgeschichte von Propagandafi guren in Osteuropa und der DDR (Berlin, 2002), 256–66.
Culek Josef (ed.), Palach. 11.8.1948–19.1.1969 (Praha, 1990).
Dębska Agnieszka and Kaliski Bartosz (eds.), Całopalny. Protest Ryszarda Siwca (Warszawa, 2013).
Eisler Jerzy, Polski rok 1968 (Warszawa, 2006).
Filip Ota et al. (eds.), Počátky odporu proti normalizačnímu režimu ve vzpomínkách účastníků. Materiály, studie, dokumenty (Praha, 1997).
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Kaliski Bartosz (ed.), ‘Płomień Ryszarda Siwca’, Karta, 44 (2005), 78–97.
Kamiński Łukasz, ‘Przeciw totalnej tyranii zła. Ryszard Siwiec (1909–1968)’, Pamięć.pl, 9 (2013), 48–50.
Prečan Vilém et al. (eds.), Horký leden 1989 v Československu (Praha, 1990).
Pynsent Robert B., Questions of Identity – Czech and Slovak Ideas of Nationality and Personality (New York, 1994).
Sabatos Charles, ‘Hořící tělo jako ikona odporu. Jan Palach v české a světové literatuře’, Kuděj, vi, 2 (2004), 59–77.
Sadecký Josef (ed.), Živé pochodně (Zürich, 1980).

Relation:

Acta Poloniae Historica

Volume:

113

Start page:

295

End page:

313

Detailed Resource Type:

Artykuł naukowy oryginalny

Format:

application/pdf

Resource Identifier:

oai:rcin.org.pl:61394 ; 2450-8462

Source:

IH PAN, sygn. A.295/113 Podr. ; IH PAN, sygn. A.296/113 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Rights:

Licencja Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa-Bez utworów zależnych 4.0

Terms of use:

Zasób chroniony prawem autorskim. [CC BY-ND 4.0 Międzynarodowe] Korzystanie dozwolone zgodnie z licencją Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa-Bez utworów zależnych 4.0, której pełne postanowienia dostępne są pod adresem: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Original in:

Biblioteka Instytutu Historii PAN

Projects co-financed by:

-

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